


Not The Only Fruit

by develish1



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 05:39:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4167978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/develish1/pseuds/develish1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a brief, yet fervent hug with Jackie, Rose turned back to him, held out her hand for a hopper and said, “Now.” Moments later, they found themselves standing in the library back aboard the TARDIS, with barely seconds to spare before the final crack fully sealed itself. Now all they had to do was find a way for this to work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not The Only Fruit

**Author's Note:**

> First published in September 2012 as part of the Ficathon at the ["ten_plus_ten"](http://ten-plus-ten.livejournal.com) community over on livejournal. Huge thanks go to [jer832](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jer832/pseuds/jer832), who convinced me not to delete the first draft of this when I had the original idea months beforehand. Also, to lj user [redcirce](http://redcirce.livejournal.com/), who agreed to beta for me when I finally found some inspiration and started to rewrite the whole thing. Her help in pointing me towards ways of filling in gaps I hadn't even spotted was invaluable. While I've rated it as "expicit", there is actually only one very short scene where it might earn that rating. Please note: This story makes occasional references to things that occurred in my earlier Nine/Rose one, [Blossoms in the rain](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1126213). It's not necessary to read that as this can stand alone, but it might help.

Before the sound of the TARDIS had completely faded Pete appeared, carrying three of what he called “hoppers”, and wearing a fourth. He explained that they were modified versions of the ones they’d used years earlier to move between universes, although now they only worked on Earth.

It took only a few moments work with the spare sonic (that had thankfully been in the pocket of the blue suit jacket) before he turned to Rose and said, “Now, or never.”

After a brief, yet fervent hug with Jackie, Rose turned back to him, held out her hand for a hopper and said, “Now.”

Moments later, they found themselves standing in the library back aboard the TARDIS, with barely seconds to spare before the final crack fully sealed itself.

Even though he was no longer a full Time Lord, he knew instantly something was not quite right. Her gentle hum seemed to be at a much lower pitch than usual. While his mental connection to her was a little weaker than it had been before, he could still feel her distress, and knew it related to Him.

He grabbed Rose’s hand and begun leading her towards the console room, quietly and haltingly explaining as they walked what had likely occurred with Donna in the time they’d been away.

They found the Time Lord, looking lost and broken, half soaked and sitting on the floor, with his back to the console.

Rose had immediately rushed to his side and sat down beside him, grasping his hand in hers. He blinked, looked at their clasped hands, then closed his eyes and let out a shuddering breath.

She was about to speak when the man in blue seated himself on the other side of the Time Lord and shook his head, indicating that now was not the time for conversation.

He took the Doctor’s other hand, and together they leaned gently against him and waited.

When Rose awoke, she found herself lying on the floor by the jumpseat with a blue suited Doctor curled beside her, and a brown overcoat thrown over them as a makeshift blanket.

As she stirred, so did he. They both sat and looked around at the now empty console room.

“Do you smell bacon?”

“Kitchen then?”

“Yep,” he replied, popping the p as he always had and leaping to his feet. Rose scrambled to her feet too, and followed him towards the smell of breakfast.

As they arrived, The Time Lord turned from his task at the cooker. He stared intently at the other Doctor for a moment, then said, “Don’t think we’re not going to have a long talk about this later. For now though, there’s tea on the table.” Then he turned back to preparing the food.

The man beside her waved Rose towards the table, then quietly approached the Time Lord. “Donna?” he asked.

There was no actual answer forthcoming, just a momentary stiffening and a small nod, but that was all he needed. “We’ll talk about that later too,” he replied quietly, before joining Rose at the table and pouring himself some tea.

###############

After some only slightly forced banter during breakfast, and one minor argument over sleeping locations, the Time Lord had suddenly gotten to his feet and left the room without explanation. The other man had immediately headed after him towards the library, with a small shake of his head towards Rose, to indicate that she shouldn’t follow.

She desperately wanted to ignore him and go to the Time Lord to offer comfort and support, but clearly they needed to talk and she suspected they might both find it easier if she were not around. Instead she wandered off and found her old room which she noted was exactly as she’d left it, right down to the clean clothes waiting in a pile at the foot of the bed.

After putting everything away, she showered, slipped into some fresh clothes, and curled up on the bed to read for a while. She glanced every so often at the small clock on her bedside table which she’d insisted on having years before, if only so she could point out to him how much sleep she _hadn’t_ had when he insisted on waking her for their next adventure.

After several hours of this Rose was starting to get bored, and somewhat frustrated at being left out of whatever was going on between the two men. She was just about to give up and go looking for them when a head peeked through her partially open door and said, “Come on, Rose - we’re landing soon, don’t want to miss all the fun.” Before she could even attempt to figure out which man it was, he’d vanished and she was hopping off her bed and rushing towards the console room.

When she arrived it was business as usual, except in duplicate. Both men were bouncing around the console, and babbling about rocks that glowed in the dark and how she simply _had_ to see the mountains at night.

She followed them out into a new world, and was promptly arrested. “Yeah, business as usual,” she muttered under her breath as she was dragged away by two guards who looked like small mountains themselves.

After a couple of hours in a very grubby cell and still with no idea why she’d been arrested, she decided having two Doctors to come to her rescue was definitely a plus. As one had grabbed her hand, the other had waved his sonic at the lock on the exit, then yelled, “Run!”

###############

A few days later however, after yet again getting far too little sleep, she also decided there was something she most definitely _could_ do without when it came to having two Doctors around. The arguments between them were becoming more frequent, and frankly she was nearing breaking point.

The previous “night”, which she guessed was around 5 hours ago if she was lucky, she’d grown tired of watching them argue over how to perform a repair and retired to her room, feeling exhausted.

Playing peacekeeper was never an easy role, but trying to do it for two almost identical, 900+ year old alien toddlers throwing a tantrum..........well that was another thing entirely.

On the very first day after their return they’d had that minor disagreement over breakfast about which of them the Doctor’s suite belonged to. The Time Lord had insisted the other man should find himself somewhere else to sleep, since he actually needed to now due to his changed biology. The other had insisted the bedroom, sitting room and study, and their contents were just as much his and he had as much right to sleep there if he wished.

It had taken a loud and rather indignant sounding hum from the TARDIS to quiet the pair of them, and they’d finally agreed that while they most certainly would not share the bed, (the Time Lord insisting he would simply take naps on the large sofa in the library, as he so often did anyway) the rooms would be classed as “neutral territory”. It was a phrase which, in hindsight, should have been a warning to Rose of what was to come.

She’d always known he was competitive, and protective of her to the point of what looked like jealous rage at times. Back in his last body, his behaviour towards Mickey, and later Jack, had occasionally had Rose worried that he might even become violent. Now though, faced with a version of himself who had equal levels of intelligence, protectiveness, and downright stubbornness...........well the arguments had been getting louder by the day.

When they were flying the TARDIS it was even worse, as neither seemed inclined to simply let the other _do_ anything - instead they practically chased each other around the console to reach the next lever, dial or knob. When it came to doing repairs, things were no less fraught.

This time it was apparently the spatial regulator controls that needed adjustment, at least that's what she thought it was, but she’d stopped focusing on the details pretty quickly once their voices started getting louder. It seemed they both wanted to fix it, both had very specific ideas on how, (which to her sounded like different versions of Doctor-speak for the exact same thing, and probably were) and both thought the other couldn’t handle it.

In the end she simply let out a heavy sigh and left the room without saying goodnight to either of them.

2.387 seconds later, they both stopped dead and turned around to stare at the empty space she’d been standing in just moments before.

“Now look what you did!” exclaimed the Doctor in brown angrily, as he turned back towards his counterpart.

“What I did? You were the one doing all the yelling,” retorted the man in blue.

“Well if you hadn’t insisted on attempting to recalibrate the settings by...”

“Enough! Just......just fix the damn thing, I’m going to bed,” the other replied with a sigh, and promptly walked out, leaving the Doctor staring at the door to the hallway, with his mouth still open mid rant.

###############

After a quick shower and a few quiet sobs of frustration, Rose slipped into her pyjamas and headed for bed. Just as she climbed under her duvet, there was a soft knock at the door. She knew immediately who it was, since the Time Lord had never bothered to knock.

This new Doctor, while still equally bad at many things, did at least seem a little more understanding of her need for privacy. She suspected that might be partly due to the Donna in him. He seemed to be a touch more human in some ways - at least, he did when he wasn’t desperately competing with the other Doctor.

“Come in,” she said with a sigh. The door opened, and sure enough a blue suited Doctor stepped partially into the room.

She’d finally decided that she rather liked the blue suit. Initially she thought he looked rather odd wearing it with a t-shirt, but now he’d settled into an assortment of pale coloured shirts, deep red or blue ties, and (of course) Chucks, although these were red rather than the off-white ones the other wore.

“Rose, are you okay?” The Doctor asked from the doorway where he still stood, looking a little worried as though he expected her to perhaps yell at him too.

“I’m fine, just tired,” she lied. She’d learnt long ago that even attempting to explain her frustration over something like this to the Doctor was useless, as he simply wouldn’t understand.

He stepped fully into the room and approached the bed, gesturing towards it with his hand. “May I?” he asked.

When she nodded, he sat down on the edge and just looked at her for a moment. When he finally spoke, Rose was surprised. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

While she stared at him, gaping slightly, he continued. “We’ve been a bit much to put up with, haven’t we?”

Rose still failed to respond as her brain was rather busy trying to process the fact that here was a Doctor who was not only apologising, but one who actually seemed to know _what_ he was apologising _for_.

At her silence he decided his best course of action was to leave, and started to stand. “I’ll just leave you to...”

Rose grabbed his hand. “Thank you,” she finally managed, and he settled back on the side of the bed.

“I’ll try to talk to him, but you know it won’t be easy. We’re far too much alike, and since we’ve never really liked ourself much...” He trailed off.

“It’s okay, you’ll figure it out eventually.” she replied, with a half smile. “I really am tired though.”

“Goodnight then,” the Doctor replied, and leaned forward to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

As he left the room he heard the rustle of a duvet and a soft sigh.

###############

Not really being all that tired despite his comment to the Time Lord, he then headed to the library, where he found the cause of his current frustration reading by the fire.

The constant tension was upsetting enough, and Rassilon knew he’d been hurt by a few of the barbs the other man had thrown his way in the heat of argument. The distress he’d seen in Rose’s face though, despite her attempts to hide it and feign tiredness, was simply the last straw.

He settled himself into the opposite chair and leaned forward. “This has to stop. It’s bad enough we’re hurting each other, but it’s upsetting Rose and I won’t have that.” he said to the man opposite him.

The Doctor raised his head from his book. “She’s upset? I’d better go...”

“Not now, she’s settled down to sleep. Let her get some rest.”

“You went to see her when you left then?” the Doctor asked, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

“Good thing one of us did, she looked like she’d been crying.”

“Oh.”

The last thing the Time Lord wanted was for Rose to be hurt in any way. He’d convinced himself that leaving the other man on Pete’s World with Rose was the best option for all of them, but they had clearly disagreed and taken matters into their own hands.

Now all three of them were here together, and even though he was still somewhat convinced the two of them would be better off far away from him, it was obvious neither would allow it.

Rose certainly wouldn’t let him send her away. He no longer had the option of sending her home in any case, and all his previous attempts to do that had failed spectacularly. In any case, he was no longer sure he could leave her behind again.

As for the other man, despite the friction between them he was starting to get used to him being around, and wasn’t sure he really wanted to send him away either.

“Okay, what do you suggest?” the Time Lord asked, if somewhat grudgingly.

“Well, for a start, you could stop pushing her away. I saw her reach for your hand yesterday in that market on Colrisbian, and you just stepped away and left her by my side. Don’t you know how much that must hurt her?”

“I....she’s human, so are you. At least as far as the aging goes.” He added the last at a raised eyebrow from the other man. “She should be with you. I see the way she looks at you when she thinks neither of us is paying attention, and the way you look at her.”

The Time Lord looked at his counterpart, pleading with his eyes for him to accept what he was saying, despite not fully believing it himself. The other man just shook his head.

“Do you see the way she looks at _you!_ Do you see the way _I_......” His voice trailed off, before returning stronger. “Look, we have to make this work somehow, because if we don’t, she’ll leave both of us. In any case, I’ve seen the way you look at her too, and no matter what we might have said in the past, it’s better with three.”

The conversation continued for several hours, with more than a little yelling. Thankfully the TARDIS ensured none of the noise reached Rose’s ears and disturbed her sleep.

Eventually they did reach a peace of sorts with an agreement to try to work together instead of against each other, and to keep the yelling to a minimum. The Time Lord had said he’d listen to the other man’s ideas, instead of simply dismissing them, and he in turn had agreed to do the same. Both men felt they had turned a corner, and hoped things would continue to improve.

Finally, after agreeing on a location for their next trip, the Doctor in blue retired for a couple of hours of sleep.

###############

“Come on Rose, time to face the morning. Of course, there really isn’t a morning on the TARDIS, but still - you’ve been sleeping for hours now,” the Doctor called out, as he bounced on the side of her bed.

Rose forced one eye open, and stared at him with thinly veiled hostility. “How many times do I have to explain the whole needing “at least seven hours” thing to you?”

“Oh come on, Rose,” he whined. “We’ve found the perfect spot for a picnic.” If pouting was an Olympic sport, he’d be heading for gold right now.

“Really Rose, it is quite lovely here,” came a voice from the doorway of her room. “Sun, sand, sea, no natives we’ll need to run away from...”

Rose finally prised herself a little further out of her duvet, and stared at the man standing in her bedroom doorway. It had only been a few days since Bad Wolf Bay, and she was still finding the idea of two Doctors a little difficult to get her head around.

And if the previous few days were any indication, they were struggling even more than she was.

“Come on you, let’s get breakfast sorted while Rose gets dressed,” the Doctor in blue said.

To Rose’s utter amazement the Time Lord simply nodded, stood up, and followed the other man out of her room, closing the door behind him.

Once she’d recovered from her shock at the Time Lords change in behaviour, she climbed out of bed, dressed quickly, and hurried to the kitchen. When she arrived she found one man making toast, the other making tea, and the table already set. She’d barely settled in her chair before a plate of toast and mug of tea appeared before her from either side.

Then both men settled at the table with their own toast and began passing assorted jams back and forth and chatting, apparently amiably, about further adjustments they might need to make to various TARDIS functions.

After staring at them in disbelief long enough for her tea to cool, she finally shook her head slightly and started on her breakfast, wondering what she’d missed while she’d slept. Whatever it was, she decided she liked the result, and smiled around her first bite of toast.

As she sipped at her tea, the blue suited Doctor reached for the Time Lord’s hand under the table and gave it a small squeeze. When the other man looked up, startled, he nodded towards Rose. Both men glanced at her; saw the look on her face, then exchanged small smiles. Yes, maybe they could actually make this work.

Once breakfast was over, Rose watched yet again as both men shared the task of clearing the table and washing the dishes, without a single cross word between them. In fact, it was amazing how well they worked together, but then she supposed that they could probably anticipate each other’s next move better than anyone else ever could.

Then she saw the look the man in blue gave the Time Lord’s rear, as he bent to return the milk to the fridge. She instantly recognised it, having not only used it herself on many occasions, but having also seen the Time Lord look at her that way when he thought she couldn’t see.

Initially she was a little shocked, not because he was looking, but because she found it didn’t bother her. If anything she was rather intrigued as to what this meant for the three of them.

When she saw his reflection in the mirrored tiles as he then turned that same look on her just a moment later as she leaned over to drop her empty mug into the sink, she decided it might just turn out to be a very _interesting_ day.

As it turned out though, “interesting” was not a word either Doctor would use to describe the situation they found themselves in just a couple of hours later.

###############

After being told that the place where they’d landed was a small island on Jesk Ridge, a planet she’d once visited with her first Doctor, Rose decided a change of clothes was needed.

She headed for her room, where she quickly swapped her jeans and t-shirt for a pretty red bikini she’d been hiding in the back of one of her drawers for some time, wrapped a red and green sarong around her waist, and after a moment’s hesitation slipped her trainers back on. Despite both Doctor’s assurances, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to run on a so called uninhabited planet.

She also grabbed a small rucksack which contained a towel and a waterproof jacket, because even if the rest of her recollections of that day were a little fuzzy, and mostly centred around falling asleep in the Doctor’s arms, she definitely remembered the rain.

When she entered the console room a few minutes later after grabbing a bottle of water from the kitchen, it was to find a scene she’d hoped not to see again so soon. Both Doctors were leaning over the view screen and arguing over the best route to take to reach their preferred picnic location.

The one in blue had a small glade in mind apparently, while the one in brown thought a spot near the lake would be better. As their voices got louder, Rose decided enough was enough.

“Boys!” she shouted, loud enough to be heard over their raised voices.

Both stopped yelling and whirled around to look at her, then gaped.

“When you’re quite finished, by all means come and find me,” Rose said. Then she swiftly sidestepped both of them and left the TARDIS.

Both men turned to each other, still gaping.

“Was that a...?”

“Bikini?”

“We should.....”

“Yeah.”

They headed for the door together, both attempting not to trip over their own feet or bump into each other, which proved rather difficult to do since each of them was still trying to clear the image of Rose in the tiny red bikini from their minds.

By the time they’d gotten themselves together enough to actually get outside Rose was nowhere to be seen.

###############

Having gotten a look at the view screen while both Doctors were staring at her, Rose thought she had an idea which way the lake was and headed off in that direction at a brisk pace. A swim was just the thing, she thought.

Unfortunately, her brief glance at the screen had not been as helpful as she’d expected, and she still hadn’t found the lake after walking for over half an hour. She was sure she could hear water in the distance though, so she kept going, reasoning that the Doctors would find her eventually.

After a further half hour, she came out of the trees into a small clearing overlooking a gently moving river. Tired and thirsty, she spread her towel out on the grass, kicked off her trainers, and flopped down to take in the scene around her.

As she looked about she decided it really was just as beautiful here as it had been when she’d visited previously, although this was far wilder than the gardens they’d wandered through last time.

All around the edge of the little patch of grass she sat on there were flowers growing, and the trees behind her were laden with bright blue fruit that looked rather like apples. A snippet of memory surfaced, but she couldn’t quite recall the name of the fruit, or much else the Doctor had told her about them either.

She clambered to her feet and walked to the water’s edge. It looked crystal clear, and she could see nothing swimming around beneath the surface. Did this mean it was unsafe, or simply that nothing had chosen to live in it? Thinking of the hour plus walk back to the TARDIS, assuming she could find it, she decided to risk it, and dived in.

After swimming for a while, still with no sign of either Doctor, she clambered back out of the water and settled down on her towel to rest in the sunshine.

Having been so distracted by watching the two Doctors apparently getting along well for a change, she’d only had a couple of slices of toast at breakfast, and that seemed hours ago. It wasn’t long before her stomach made its demands known, with a very loud growl.

Checking her bag she realised she had no food with her, and mentally slapped herself for not being more prepared. After all her time in the TARDIS, she should have known better.

Looking around at the fruit trees, and the small bushes nearby that also bore small red fruit, she contemplated her options. She could either walk back to the TARDIS and two Doctors who were probably still arguing, go hungry, or eat the local produce.

She remembered the Doctor telling her about the fruits, and the more she thought about it, the more certain she was that he’d said one of them was “not pleasant” and perhaps something about how “they’d give you stomach ache” but the finer details were still evading her.

She picked one of each, and stared at them for some time. She really couldn’t recall which one was supposed to be bad though, and since she had no other way to judge, she took a tiny bite of each, thinking that would be safe enough.

The small red fruit was incredibly bitter, while the blue one was indeed similar to an apple in texture, although it tasted rather like raw cabbage. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant though, so she finished it, then settled on her back for a nap, hoping the Doctors would appear soon.

###############

After searching the area immediately around the TARDIS, both Doctors were at a loss.

“This is all your fault, you know that right?” the one in blue said.

“Mine? You were the one who wanted to go to that glade; you should have known she’d prefer to swim.”

“I _did_ know that. There’s a small slow-moving river not far from there that would have been perfect for a swim, which you’d have known if you’d just listened for longer than two seconds before butting in.”

“Me, butting in? I was the one speaking first — besides, you were the one who started yelling!”

“Well if you’d just listen to me once in a while, instead of.....”

“Look, this is getting us nowhere; we need to find Rose and we have no idea which way she went.”

At this both Doctors became silent. Yet again they’d ended up yelling at each other and while they’d been doing so, Rose had no doubt wandered even further away. Even though the planet was supposed to be uninhabited, the weather could be horribly unpredictable, and if they’d gotten the date wrong there could be other dangers too.

“You’re right,” the Doctor in blue said with a sigh. “She could have wandered quite a distance by now.” He rummaged in his pocket for a moment. “Do you have the spare sonic? We should be able to home in on her TARDIS key once we’re closer; you know she never takes it off. You head towards the lake, I’ll head for the river. One of us is bound to find her that way; she’d be heading for water dressed like that, right?”

The other Doctor handed over the sonic. “New setting, 476B-39, basic CIA code, you remember that, right? Of course you do. Anyway, I added it last night; it’ll let you send a message to my sonic if you find her.”

As they each set off in different directions, both could hear the other muttering under his breath.

Half an hour later though, neither was still muttering. They were in fact, starting to get a little worried.

###############

Rose opened her eyes and blinked at what she saw. There, tugging gently on her hand, was one of her Doctors, wearing brightly coloured shorts and nothing else.

“Come on Rose, I thought you wanted to swim.”

She allowed herself to be dragged towards the water, where she spotted the other Doctor, identically dressed and already splashing around. As she got closer, he reached out and grabbed her other hand, and between the two of them she was swiftly pulled into the cool water. She realised that she had no idea which man was which but decided it didn’t really matter and threw herself into having fun.

After a short splash war and various (hopefully playful) attempts by the Doctors to drown each other, Rose found herself perched on a smooth rock at the water’s edge, a little unsure how she’d gotten there.

Before she could give that too much thought however, one of the Doctors suddenly stepped into the shallow water between her knees and peered down at her. At the same moment she realised the other man was sitting on the rock behind her, his legs spread at either side of hers.

“We had a long talk last night, Rose,” said the man in front of her, placing his left hand against her hip just above her swimwear. “And we reached a decision,” the one behind added, his breath tickling softly against her ear, as he too reached forward to touch her.

“The only way we’ll be able to stop competing,” continued the one looking down at her. “Is if we learn to share,” whispered the man behind her.

Before her brain could even attempt to process those statements, or the fact both men were actually touching her bare skin for the first time, the one in front lowered his lips to hers while the one behind pressed his to her bare shoulder.

As Rose gasped, the Doctor kissing her lips took full advantage, slipping his tongue into her mouth to stroke it against her own. At the same time, the man behind her began gently nipping his way up towards her neck. As they each pressed closer, she could feel their hearts beating, and realised it was the Time Lord standing before her. She also realised that she really didn’t care which was which.

Even in Rose’s wildest imaginings she’d never really considered this scenario. As recently as this morning she still hadn’t even been sure if either man actually wanted her, but clearly they did.

While her brain desperately tried to clear itself enough to focus on what was happening and actively participate, Rose became aware that the hands on her hips were gently tugging at the ties of her bikini bottoms.

As those came loose, she realised other hands were now removing her top. Before that could sink in, a hand slipped between her open thighs. As two fingers thrust into her, she gasped and reached for the waistband of the Time Lord’s shorts. As she did so, her fingers collided with those of the man behind her. “Yeah, sharing works for me.”

###############

As his sonic began to beep indicating Rose’s TARDIS key was nearby, the Doctor in blue heard a loud moan coming from up ahead and started to run. On clearing the trees he found Rose lying on her towel and writhing, with her eyes rolled back.

Sending a quick message to his counterpart, he visually scanned the area for clues, then scooped Rose up and turned back towards the TARDIS, moving as swiftly as he could.

On the other side of the island, the other Doctor’s sonic began to buzz insistently. He stared at it for a second, mentally translating the complex series of flashes and beeps. “TARDIS. NOW!” Then he turned, and ran.

Upon reaching the TARDIS, the Doctor was just unlocking the door when the man in blue stumbled out of the trees carrying Rose, who appeared to be unconscious.

Taking Rose from the other man’s arms and heading straight for the med-bay, the Doctor called back over his shoulder, “What happened?”

“You happened. Or rather we did. Actually no, HE did. Damn it, I’ll never get these pronouns straight!”

Walking through the door into the med-bay he watched as the Doctor lowered Rose on to one of the exam beds, then turned back to glare at him.

“Sorry,” he continued. “It looks like she’s been eating crepsies.”

“What? Why would she do that? We told her they would make her ill, I know we did!” he said, as he headed towards one of the wall mounted cabinets.

“We didn’t, not properly anyway. If you recall, our predecessor wasn’t all that good at offering explanations. What we actually told her was ‘they’d give you stomach ache’, rather than ‘their fast acting neurotoxin will make you lose consciousness, cause you to vividly hallucinate, and possibly kill you’.....which would have been far more accurate,” he finished, with a sigh.

“Well don’t just stand there, help me!” The Doctor yelled, as he hunted for a suitable anti-toxin. The other man rushed forward and hurriedly hooked up a saline drip, then stepped back while the Doctor injected the solution he’d finally located directly into Rose’s wrist.

“Now we wait,” he said, as they each took a position on either side of the exam bed.

They both looked down at Rose, who was no longer writhing but was now quietly whimpering, still clearly unconscious.

The Doctor in blue moved to the side of the room to get a damp cloth to wipe Rose’s face. He returned just in time to see the Time Lord brush her hair away from her forehead, gasp, and then step back abruptly.

“I.......there’s something I need to do. I’ll be back soon. Just.......just keep her hydrated,” the Doctor mumbled, then left the room almost at a run.

The man in blue stared after him for a moment, then shook his head and focused his thoughts on Rose. He could deal with the Doctor later, when Rose was well again. He only hoped later would come quickly.

###############

The Doctor ran down the corridor until he finally came to the entrance to the garden. He stumbled through it, then slumped down on the grass under a large tree.

He knew the other man would remain in the med-bay; he would not leave Rose’s side. And although he himself wanted to remain there as well, his thoughts were whirling so badly he’d had no choice but to leave.

As he’d brushed her hair away his fingers had inadvertently come into contact with her temple. He wasn’t sure if his worried state meant his defences were lower than they should have been or if her thoughts were simply louder than expected, but he’d had a clear view for just a moment.

Aside from the fact he had entered her mind without invitation, something he would never normally do except in a dire emergency, he’d done so without her even being aware of it. That in itself was bad enough, but _what_ he’d seen was what had taken his breath away and had him running from the room as though a Dalek were chasing him.

Because what he’d seen had been an extremely clear and terribly detailed image of a very naked Rose, sandwiched between himself and his counterpart. Both had been kissing and touching her enthusiastically, in fact one of his own hands had been buried between her thighs, two of his fingers thrust knuckle deep....

He shook his head and tried to clear the image from his mind, only to find himself remembering other details instead. Like the deep moan she’d given as his fingers moved within her, and the gasp from himself as both Rose and the other Doctor had simultaneously reached for the fastening on the front of his shorts.

He fell backwards and lay staring at the TARDIS-created sky above him, trying to switch off the images and rein in the hormones running rampart through his body. The tightness of his trousers, however, continued to remind him just how bad a job he was doing.

He’d known for some time that Rose loved him. In fact he’d suspected it since before he regenerated but he’d never allowed himself to consider them having the kind of relationship he’d just witnessed in her mind. What they had was wonderful as it was, even if he secretly wanted more. As much as he cared about her, loved her, he’d also been sure that if he tried to turn it into anything else he’d make such a mess of things she’d leave him.

He’d also started to suspect that she had similar feelings for the part human version of himself too. He supposed that was to be expected, as they were essentially the same man, albeit with a few minor differences. He also hadn’t failed to notice the look that sometimes came into the other man’s eyes when they argued. He’d simply chosen to ignore that too. It seemed he was getting very good at cowardice these days.

Never in his wildest imaginings though, had he ever even considered the kind of situation he’d just witnessed in her mind. However, he knew very well that no matter how fevered her mind was while under the influence of the toxins she’d ingested, it was still _her mind_ conjuring up the images he’d seen. Clearly she must have considered it, if only subconsciously.

After staring upwards, unseeing, for a few more minutes he finally managed to regain a little control and slowly got to his feet. With his trousers still feeling a little tighter than they should, and feeling for all the universe like a hormonal teenager, he stumbled off to his room for a very cold shower.

###############

Almost an hour after he’d left, the Doctor walked back into the med-bay, only to be immediately pushed backwards into the hallway by his counterpart.

“What did you see?”

Momentarily confused by the question, the Doctor simply stared at the other man.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out what on earth happened just before you left. I’m you remember, so I think I know you pretty well, and the only thing that makes any sense is that you stumbled into her head by accident, so.......” With his hand on the Doctor’s chest he pushed him again more forcefully, towards the opposite wall. “What. Did. You. SEE?”

The Doctor stared at him for a while and realised there was no way the other man was backing down over this, and he had no stomach for yet another fight.

Torn between keeping her privacy despite having already invaded it himself and sharing the burden he now felt, he found he couldn’t speak. He had already considered saying something to the other man privately at some point, but he had no idea how to even begin such a discussion.

He cast a glance at Rose, who he could just see through the still open door. Once he was certain she was not yet conscious, he raised his hand to the other man’s face, settled his fingers in place, and silently showed him what he’d seen.

As Rose’s voice echoed in both their heads, talking about sharing, the Doctor’s hand dropped away from the other man’s face.

“She does have a point,” the man in blue said.

Before the Time Lord could even think of a response to that, he was pushed hard against the wall by his clearly very aroused counterpart and the other man’s lips pressed fiercely against his own.

His own arousal had flared again after sharing the stolen images, and he instinctively groaned and arched forward. The other man took full advantage, pushing his tongue between his partly open lips.

Despite the somewhat confused thoughts tumbling through his head, he returned the kiss with equal intent for a few minutes, then gently pushed the other man away.

“What......what about Rose?”

“I can’t have both?” the other man replied, confirming his suspicions.

“We need to talk about this.”

“Yeah.”

They silently stared at one another for a few moments, until a soft moan from the exam bed had them both rushing to Rose’s side.

###############

“What....what happened?” Rose croaked, looking back and forth between the two of them. She had a vague memory of splashing around in water, but it was very unclear.

“You wandered off, of course.” said the Doctor to her left.

“Wandered off, and ate something you shouldn’t too,” added the Doctor on her right.

“So is that why my head feels like I had a night on the hyper-vodka, and my stomach feels like I was kicked by a rhinoceros then?” asked Rose, as she tried to sit up.

“Ah, no, no moving around for you just yet Miss Tyler, you need to rest,” insisted the Time Lord.

“We could move you to your own room though, if you’d prefer?” added the other Doctor.

“Only if you two come with me,” said Rose, with a small smile.

Both men went silent for a moment and stared at each other across the exam bed, then they looked at Rose and said, in unison, “What?”

“Well, you’re not just dumping me in there and running off to go tinker with things,” she said. “Least you can do is come watch a film with me or something, if you really want me to stay put for a while.”

Rose looked between the two men, both of whom seemed to have just let out a breath they’d been holding, and shook her head. She’d never understand either of them it seemed, no matter how long she travelled with them, which she was determined would be a very long time. “And maybe you could get me some tea, and something to eat?” She added as an afterthought.

“Right,” exclaimed the Time Lord, and scooped Rose up into his arms and headed for the door. The other Doctor followed them part of the way down the corridor, then disappeared into the kitchen.

By the time he returned carrying a tray, Rose was just coming out of the bathroom in her pyjamas and his counterpart was popping a disc into the DVD player under the small TV at the foot of her bed.

He looked up at him as he entered, and muttered, “Don’t blame me, she chose it.”

Rose giggled and climbed into the centre of her rather large bed, then patted the spaces on either side of her.

A tray was placed in her lap, and both men settled beside her on the bed with their backs against the headboard.

Rose handed them each a mug of tea from the tray, then began spreading butter and jam on the toast piled high in front of her. The men groaned in unison as the opening credits of _Pretty Woman_ filled the small screen.

Rose just laughed and held a hand out to each of them with a slice of toast in it. At their slightly puzzled looks she just said, “What? It’s nice to share.”

The two men stared at each other over her head for a moment, and smiled.

 

_End (?)  
_

 

**Author's Note:**

> _Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. Please, do NOT reproduce this work in any format without the authors permission. Should you wish to share this work in any way, please contact the author directly._


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